Featured Artist… Shawn Fields! – Opening Reception this evening…

Shawn Fields, artist that paints the childhood imagination… Is this not a fascinating painting? Does it not conjure up wonderful childhood memories? The kinds of memories made from using your imagination (nothing in the world beats that, there is no video game that can beat a childhood imagination. Not. Ever). Do you recall the art of building a fort, riding a bike and make believe that seemed so utterly real it was hard to believe that it wasn’t! I truly think Shawn’s paintings bring us back to that happy childhood… it gives us a feeling of make believe so good and pure. Just honest fun. Fun that wore you out and made you sleep well at night! The way he captured this sweet little boy with his cape and his furry friends is nothing short of spectacular. His paintings make me smile. A big, wonderful, happy smile!

“Jousting” by Shawn Fields

All I can say is… this painting brings back fabulous memories. The longer you look at this it, the more you see… this is a creative kid, who jumped on his bike, with his bed sheet as a cape. Keep looking and your mind will create stories. How wonderful is that?! Shawn’s paintings are so original. Pure amazement is what I feel.

Shawn’s show is at Dowling Walsh Gallery, in Rockland, Maine. There is an opening reception tonight with the artist from 5-8PM. If I could be there I would be! If you’re in the area, stop by the gallery, it’s located across the street from the Farnsworth Museum and it is a gorgeous gallery! Filled with paintings that will tempt you… big time! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Read a blip about Shawn from the Dowling Walsh Gallery website and check out his website:

Upcoming Show: August 2-30, 2013

Shawn Fields is a representational artist, telling stories of childhood with convincing detail. Shawn reminds us of the simplicity of a childhood full of resourceful, economical play. His paintings begin centered on a particular object – a “cabbage patch kid’s” bicycle, a bathing suit, a pillow case – familiar from his own childhood and echoed in his children’s. The object becomes embedded in layers of narrative until the picture is complete.

Using practiced color, composition and anatomy, Shawn amplifies his narratives with make-believe. He has been inspired by Pixar and Spielberg, as much as by Winslow Homer and the Wyeths, in their ability to tell a story. Shawn understands that a painting can seem even more real when it takes liberties with reality. He cleverly invents ways to weigh down the mattress beneath the feet of a feather-light child, allowing it to crease and fold in a way that our mind reads as true. He billows the cape of a young boy jousting on his bike, the ribbons and grasses blowing with vigor, capturing the speed the viewer and the child have imagined. Shawn’s paintings signal to our recollection of reality.

Shawn Fields grew up in a suburb of Baltimore and also in rural Pennsylvania. His early conception of art was formed by a monthly subscription to Mad Magazine, and the Wyeth family’s presence in the Brandywine Valley. Shawn studied drawing and painting at the School of Visual Arts, at the Water Street Atelier in New York, and at the New York Academy of Art. He now lives in the Berkshires, Massachusetts with his wife and three children.